It’s summer, but NRK. Night falls on no. We are happy to finally be able to offer a night mode on NRK.no.
The public service at NRK receives 1,500 inquiries a month. There is laughter and praise and questions about everything related to NRK. For example, users who report that the weather forecast on yr.no is wrong should actually have 40 grams of deer salt in Vestlandslefsa (Yes, it should) or where Sigrid Soldund bought the sweater she wore at Taxknit 18 (it was knitted by her mother and is not for sale).
But a question arises again and again. Why can’t night mode be enabled on NRK.no? To you, we are pleased to say: Now!
But first, what is night mode? Or dark mode, as Apple calls it, or dark theme (Google), or light on dark color scheme (Wikipedia). The latter actually makes it more obvious: instead of using dark text on a light background like the text you’re reading now, a dark background with light text is used. Of course, it’s not that simple, it’s about relegating the whole experience to a dark background with a prominent focus. Many people find it very pleasing to the eyes, and it can also be a power-saving measure on some mobiles and screens.
Darkness, no darkness
Getting night mode on a website like NRK.no isn’t just about changing colors. Design is used to set the mood, but that’s not Night Mode’s job. A news design should work equally well in a light essay Dice game at Easter Reported as Putin’s propaganda war.
Night mode should not be confused with the serious design of sad or dark messages, but should work in culture as well as in war.
In order not to make the messages darker than the content, we chose to create the night mode in dark blue tones instead of black or gray. From before, we marked extreme events with dark backgrounds on our front pages, which are now given a different color in night mode, but with the desire that it still doesn’t feel dark. In addition, we are concerned with the universal design, where contrast should now be sufficient for night mode and day mode.
A lot has to be right for it to be good and we have enough examples of when getting it visually right is challenging.
Probably never perfect
However, it may not be perfect. A journalist’s toolbox is diverse, and even what appear to be simple articles with text, images, and video can have various elements like fact boxes, section dividers, image sweeps, and more. All these elements should be suitable for the night mode, otherwise the bright elements will stand out.
The articles on NRK.no span more than 20 years, and many types of elements have been developed and used over the years. Dealing with all of these is not realistic. Additionally, images with a burnt white background are used to give air around the images, as the background is otherwise uniformly white. Then there is no reason to use image formats with transparent backgrounds. So these images will still have white fields that will now look strange against a dark background.
It takes time for the entire content product on NRK.no to be used even in night mode, and old articles are not updated.
Not for everyone
The value of night mode is also discussed. Research That said, it’s not ideal for eyes with dark screens, especially in bright environments. Readability may suffer with light text on dark backgrounds. But if you find your mobile phone in bed to get the latest news, there is no doubt that a bright screen will disturb your sleep rather than a dark one.
The result of these challenges is that we don’t enable night mode by default for everyone, because we can’t guarantee that the reading experience will be what we want it to be.
But for those who prefer dark backgrounds and can forgive these shortcomings, we still like the option to enable it.
Test the night mode with us
You are welcome to try the night mode on NRK.no. The first version is already below Settings tab on NRK.no By choosing the option about night mode. The selection is stored as a cookie (often called a cookie elsewhere), so you’ll need to do this in all browsers that want night mode.
We are still working on it and it will improve gradually but will never be perfect. However, we are happy to finally present one of the most requested functions on NRK.no.
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